Serious concerns have been raised by the Doochary Development Group over what they termed; “the escalation of surveillance of residents by the multinational Ørsted.”
They have written to Donegal County Council’s planning department in response to the erection of cameras by the renewable energy company.
The group has strenuously objected to the thermal and monitored cameras which they say have the capacity to intrude on the privacy of residents.
In a statement, Ørsted says they have installed the cameras to protect a LiDAR system that has been installed to measure wind speeds which is a standard procedure in the development of a wind farm and in line with planning regulations.
Ørsted statement in full:
“As part of Ørsted and FuturEnergy Ireland’s joint development of Cloghercor Wind Farm in Co. Donegal a LiDAR system has been installed to measure wind speeds. This is standard procedure in the development of any wind farm. A LiDAR is an expensive piece of equipment and to protect it, four temporary security cameras with automated voice controls have been put in place to prevent vandalism. The LiDAR is located within forested lands and no homes are in its vicinity. Both the LiDAR and the security cameras are compliant with Irish planning regulation.”
